Guard device for wood shapers



June 30, 1931.- SHAW 1,812,452

GUARD DEVICE FOR WOOD SHAPERS Filed June 23, 1930 O O O O o g V H INVENTOR Roderf .SAazw Patented June 30, 1931 UNITED STATES ROBERT A. SHAW, F DETROIT, MICHIGAN GUARD DEVICE FOR WOOD SHAPERS Application filed June 23, 1930. Serial No. 463,340.

The general purpose of this invention being indicated by the above title, it may be noted that this guard device is intended not only to safeguard the hands of an operative dur- 6 ing use of an ordinary or special shaper but also to prevent the flying of chips toward the eyes of the operative; and a typical embodiment of the invention, as applied to a holder for work to be shaped, may include a pair of 10 substantially identical guard devices, each having an L configuration and being so secured that an upstanding guard portion thereof is interposed between the rota-ting or other cutting element and a handle provided upon the work holder,a downwardly concave attachment element being preferably adapted to receive a transverse jaw element of said holder.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a guard device of comparatively simple and inexpensive construction,--requiring no additional or special means for the retention of the same; and preferred embodiments of the invention may each include a pair of channel-section guard members formed from spring steel, or the like, and adapted to serve as lock washers,-each being preferably provided with an aperture, in a horizontally extending or other retaining portion thereof, through which aperture may extend a threaded element serving as a part of a pressure-applying means for jaws whereby work is retained suitably for manipulation relatively to a cutter; and, in preferred embodiments of the invention, each of a pair of handles may be angularly movable upon either of two axes and provided with a cam head, of a known type,a retaining portion of each of the mentioned guard elements being interposed beneath one of the cam heads in such manner that a tilting of the same causes a movement of approach between jaws whereby work is retained and a guard portion thereof being so formed and disposed as to forbid tilting of the associated handle toward any cutting element.

Other objects of the present invention, including preferred details of construct-ion as well as general features adapting the same to be used in connection with cutting elements and work holders of various types, may be best appreciated from the following description of an illustrative embodiment of the invention, taken in connection with the ap-v pended claims and the accompanying drawings.

Fig. 1 is a somewhat diagrammatic top plan View showing a wood shaping organization as including a work holder equipped with an embodiment of the invention, parts so being broken away.

Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view taken sfip bstimtially as indicated by line 22 of Fig, 3 is a. perspective detail view, oorresponding to an upper right hand portion of Fig. 2.

. Fig. 4 is a separate perspective view showmg a preferred type of ard element separately from the cooperating parts of a work holder.

Referring first to the more general features of one organization in which the novel guard device may be employed, in the instance selected for purposes of illustration the flat top T of a suitable bench is shown as so apertured at A as to permit rotatable cutting elements E, E to be driven by vertical shafts; and a holder for one or more pieces of work, W, YV, which are to be given a desired configuratlon by engagement with the rotating or other cutters, is shown as including, in addition to a main slidable body providing a lower jaw element J, and in addition to a usual or special transverse upper jaw element or elements J, a pressure-applying orga-nlzation or organizations including bolts B, nuts N and handles H,-the latter being shown as each including a cam head C, connected with the nut N by a pivot P and directly engaging a retaining portion of a guard member G,illustrative of the present lnvention.

Means such as compression springs having heretofore been used to bias the mentioned jaws toward an open or work-receivmg position, it will be understood that a rotation of the nut N by means of the handle H, has heretofore been relied on to effect an initial adjustment of the mentioned pressureapplying device; and that a final compression or gripping effect has been and 1s obtained by a depression of the handle H, to bring some proud portion of the cam G into a downward position of engagement with an upper jaw member J or with a washer thereon.

The guard member G may thus be used in replacement of the mentioned washer as well as for the attainment of the additional functions above referred to, and one or more replaceable filler blocks or strips F, F are optionally employed to maintain the mentioned parts in substantially their indicated general relationship even when no work elements W, W are in place. The length of the replaceable bolts B or nuts N, like the height of the optional filler blocks or strips F, F, will be understood to accord with the thickness of work strips W, W constituting a particular lot to be shaped; and in any event, an upwardly extending guard portion 100 of the guard Gris provided with substantially parallel or outwardly flared flanges 101, servin not only for the purpose last referred to but for a strengthening effect; a substantially horizontal attachment portion 102 of said guard member may advantageously be provided with continuous or substantially similar flanges 103 along parallel edges thereof; and, when the guard G is to be retained as indicated, that portion of a continuous web 104.(shown as interconnecting all of the mentioned flanges) through which the nut N or a shank connected therewith must extend is preferably provided with an aperture whose border 105 is engageable by the mentioned cam G. I

It will be understood that, after a desired gripping pressure has been applied by a rotation and/or a depression of the handles H, said handles may serve in the manipulation of the entire work holding organization relatively to the cutting elements of any type whatever.

As indicated, the configuration of the guard member G, however it may be varied, is intended always to be such as to safeguard the hands of an operative during manipulation of the handling organization (as by a sliding of the main jaw or body member J upon the smooth top T of a bench) regardless of the angular position to which the handles 11 may have been turned incidentally to the application of a desired grippin pressure to the work strip or strips W, W and the illustrated outward or forward concavity of the upwardly extending guard portion 100 of each guard member G will be recognized as favorable also to a safeguarding of the operatives eyes from flying chips; but it will be obvious not only that various mentioned details are immaterial to the broader aspects of the present invention, and that the exact configuration of any guard member employed to protect the hands of an operative by forbidding the tilting of a handle in a particular direction, or for other safeguarding effects, must depend upon the na ture of the specific roblem in hand and the material ava1lable,. ut also that various details of the present invention might be independently employed and that numerous modifications, distinct from any suggested herein, might easily be devised by skilled workers, if informed of the foregoing,--all without departure from the scope of the present invention, as the latter is indicated above and in the following claims.

What I claim is:

1. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, means for clamping the jaws together, and a guard for protecting the operator, said guard being removably secured to the holder by the clamping means.

2. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, means for clamping the aws together, and a guard for protecting the operator, said guard being removably secured to the holder by the clamping means and being substantially of L shape with a portion engaging one jaw and a portion projecting away from the aw.

3. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, a removable bolt interconnecting the jaws and upon which one jaw is slidable, a Y

cam lever on the end of the bolt beyond the last mentioned jaw, and a guard on the bolt between the cam lever and jaw, whereby the jaw and guard may be clamped together when the work is fastened in position.

4. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, a removable bolt interconnecting the jaws and upon which one jaw is slidable, a cam lever on the end of the bolt beyond the last mentioned jaw, and a guard on the bolt between the cam lever and jaw, whereby the jaw and guard may be clamped together when the work is fastened in position, said guard being substantially of L shape and having edge flanges for reinforcing it and for overlapping edge faces of the jaw to preyent turning thereof with respect to the lat- 5. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, a removable bolt interconnecting the aws and upon which one jaw is slidable, a cam lever on the end of the bolt beyond the last mentioned jaw, and a guard on the bolt between the cam lever and jaw, whereby the jaw and guard may be clamped together when the work is fastened in position, said guard having a base portion engaging the surface of the jaw and flanged edge portions overlapping the edges of the jaw.

6. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, means for clamping the aWs together, and a guard for protecting the operator, said guard being removably secured to the holder by the clamping means and being substantially of L shape with a portion engaging one jaw and a portion projecting away from the jaw, said guard member having a flange along one edge for reinforcing it, and to prevent turning of the guard on the jaw.

7. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, means for clamping the jaws together, and a guard for protecting the operator, said guard being removably secured to the holder by the clamping means, said guard having a base portion engaging one face of one of the jaws, and a flange adapted to engage an edge surface of the jaw to prevent turning of the guard.

8. In combination, a work holder comprising relatively movable jaws for clamping the work, means for clamping the jaws together, and a guard for protecting the operator, said guard being removably secured to the holder by the clamping means and means separately of the clamping means for preventing turning of the guard on the holder.

ROBERT A. SHAW. 

